Cigarette making or like machine



Oct; 5, 1937. w. E. MOLINS ET AL 2,095,150

CIGARETTE MAKING 0R LIKE MACHINE Filed March 14, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 zifw WW, M M

Oct. 5, 1937.

w. E. MOLINS ET AL CIGARETTE MAKING OR LIKE MACHINE Filed March 14, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet; 2

,Md' /J- Patented Oct. 5, 1937 CIGARETTE MAKING OR LIKE MACHINE Walter Everett Molins and Jack Shackleton, Deptford, London, England; Harold Bernardo Molins and Moses Hyman Isaacs, executors of said Walter Everett Molins, deceased, assignors to Molins Machine Company Limited, London,

England Application March 14,

1935, Serial No. 11,124

In Great, Britain April 4, 1934 7 Claims.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to. cigarette making or like machines, such for example as tobacco packaging machines, and refers more particularly to a method of and means for feeding tobacco to such machines.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of, and means for, feeding tobacco whereby the individual weights of cigarettes produced by a cigarette making machine is greatly improved.

The tobacco feeding apparatus referred to herein is of the type in which elements are arranged to feed tobacco towardsa surface continuously moving in one direction, said tobacco being fed in a shower the width of which extends in the direction in which the surface is moving. The moving surface is not of itself necessarily a part of the tobacco feeding apparatus, but may form a part of the machine to which the tobacco feeding apparatus is to be attached.

It has previously been proposed in tobacco feeding apparatus for use with cigarette making machines to feed tobacco towards a moving surface in a shower, the width of which extends in the direction of movement of the surface, and to provide means disposed above the moving surface and in thepath of the shower to impart to the falling tobacco a component of movement in the direction of movement of the moving surface. In such cases, however, the said means have been disposed as near as possible to the moving surface in order to. obtain the maximum benefit of the component of movement imparted by the said means to the falling tobacco.

According to one form of the present invention, there is provided a method of feeding tobacco to a cigarette making or tobacco packaging machine by showering particles of tobacco towards a surface moving continuously in one direction, the particles forming a shower thewidth of which extends lengthwise of the moving surface, sub-dividing the shower along its width,

forming the sub-divided portionsinto streams, diverting the direction of fall of the streams and delivering the streams to the moving surface from points disposed above and remote therefrom by a distance such that the combined widths of the streams as they engage the moving surface or the tobacco contained thereon is greater than the total width of the shower. The streams may also be delivered to the moving surface with a component of movement in the direction of movement of the surface.

The streams may be delivered to the surface in staggered arrangement, whereby the heavier particles of tobacco contained in the stream are mixed with the lighter particles of an adjacent stream.

In another form according to the present invention there is provided tobacco feeding apparatus of the type described, wherein means are provided to impart to the tobacco showered towards the moving surface, a component of movement in a direction which is opposed to the direction of movement of the moving surface or opposed to the direction in which the surface when provided is to be moved.

In another form according to the present invention there is provided tobacco feeding apparatus of the type described wherein means are disposed above the moving surface and in the path of the shower andare remote. from the surface or arranged to be remote from where the surface is to be, by a distance such thatthe tobacco is delivered from said means to'the moving surface in a manner hereinafter set forth. The means may comprise elements inclined to the direction of fall of the shower, and the elem'ents may consist of plates or vanes which are are ranged such that adjacent plates or vanes have at least those portions'thereof which are nearest the moving surface or the place at which the surface is to be formed or staggered with respect to each other for a purpose hereinafter specified. The ends of the elements nearest the moving surface or the place at which the surface is to be, may be substantially parallel thereto, and the elements may have a trough-like cross-section. The tobacco feeding apparatus, as just described, may be used in combination with a cigarette making machine or a tobacco packaging machine.

In another form the invention consists in a cigarette made in accordance with the method or by the machine just described;

In a still further form, the invention consists of tobacco packaged in accordance with the method or by the machine just described.

The invention will be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a sectional elevation of tobacco feeding apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional end elevationlooking in the direction indicated in Figure 1.

Figure 3, is a perspective view showing a portion.of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a diagrammaticplan view of a portiOn of Figure 1, showing the manner in which streams of tobacco are delivered to a moving surface.

Like references refer to like parts throughout the specification and drawings.

Referring to the drawings, tobacco is fed by any suitable known means from a hopper (not shown), and is deposited upon the surface of a distributor roller I, from which it is picked byapicker roller 2, and formed into a shower which is directed towards a surface 3 moving continuously in one direction. In the example given the moving surface 3 comprises a web of cigarette paper moving on the bottom of a' trough 4 which may, if desired, form the moving surface, so that it has a U-shaped cross-section, as illustrated more clearly in Figures 2 and 3.

It is to be understood that the terms moving surface and travelling web as employed herein are not limited to a web of cigarette paper. Obviously the surface or web may be comprised by other means, for example an endless tape or band, or other conventional form of conveyor.

Above the moving surface 3 and in the path of the shower of tobacco there is disposed a number of plates or vanes 5 which are inclined towards the direction of movement of the moving surface 3, as shown clearly in Figure 1. The plates or 'vanes 5 are arranged to sub-divide the shower along its width, and to form the sub-divided portions into streams which slide down the surface of the plates or vanes and are delivered from the ends 6 of the plates or vanes, which are bent in the direction in which the conveyor is moving, as shown clearly in Figure 1. The portions 6 are bentso that they are substantially parallel with the moving surface, and the stream of tobacco, as it leaves the ends of the plates or vanes therefore moves in a substantially horizontal plane.

The portions 6 of the plates or vanes 5 are arranged above the moving surface 3 and remote from the surface by a distance such that the tobacco in falling on to the moving surface or on to the tobacco carried thereby, is caused to spread lengthwise along the surface.

The distance by which the ends 6 of the plates or vanes 5 are remote from the moving surface is sufiiciently great that the length '1 of the moving surface over which the tobacco is spread is greater than the width 8 of the shower from which the stream was formed. By this means, tobacco from the shower tends to be more evenly spread on the surface of the moving surface 3 than is the case when the tobacco is-showered on to the moving surface by any of the previously known methods. a a

The plates or vanes 5 may be of semi-circular or trough-like construction, as shown in Figure 3, to facilitate the forming of the streams, and the ends 6 of the plates or'vanes may be set askew or bent as shown in Figure 3,so that the streams being delivered from adjacent plates or vanes do not impinge on'each other, but the light portions of tobacco 9 from one stream are delivered onto an area of the conveyor adjacent in a transverse direction to that of the heavy portions ll] of tobacco from the adjacent stream, so that when the tobacco is formed into a rod, the light portions 9 become mixed with the heavy portions in.

It will be appreciated that the heavier portions Ill of a stream will be carried a greater distance in a forward direction as the stream leaves theends 6 of theplates or vanes than will-the lighter portions 9, which tend to drop substantially perpendicularly from the ends of the bent ends 6.

From the foregoing description and by refer ence to Figure 4, it will be seen that the sum total of the lengths l of the stream will be greater than the overall width of the shower from which streams were formed. It follows, therefore, that the tobacco taken from the shower is spread over a greater surface than has hitherto been the custom, and further, that due to the arrangement of the ends 6 of the plates or vanes, the light and heavy particles of tobacco from the shower are more evenly mixed than is the case when using the known types of tobacco feeding apparatus.

Although for the purposes of illustration the lengths l are shown in Figure 4 as being isolated, it will be understood that the streams are normally delivered to the tobacco which is carried by the moving surface and that the streams only have the appearance shown in Figure 4 if the view is taken at a point just above the moving surface. The purpose of Figure 4 is merely to show the manner in which the streams fall from the ends of the plates or vanes and in which the light and heavy particles are mixed. For instance, each of the rows of tobacco particles shown in this figure represents diagrammatically the manner in which tobacco is projecting on the moving surface at a given instant by each of the vanes, the tobacco particles being given a component of movement in the direction of movement of the surface by reason of the forward inclination of the vanes and a component of movement transverse to the direction of movement of the moving surface by reason of the fact that the lower ends of the vanes are bent or set askew, so that the tobacco particles are in effect projected diagonally across the moving surface.

If desired, the moving surface 3 may be moved in a direction opposite to that indicated in Figure l, and in this way the tobacco delivered to the moving surface is given a component of movement in a direction which is opposed to the direction of movement of the moving surface.

It is found when running cigarette making machines at speeds producing cigarettes of 70 m/m length at the rate of over 1000 per minute, that the tobacco showered on to the moving surface tends to bounce upwardly from the moving surface owing to the increased speed at which the tobacco is thrown down by the picker, thus disturbing the formation of the tobacco on the moving surface. By directing the tobacco towards the moving surface in the manner just described, that is to say, by the use of means which alters the direction of downward movement of the tobacco and imparts a component of movement thereto in a direction more nearly horizontal, as by the bending of the lower ends of the. vanes, the tendency for the tobacco to bounce is reduced, and therefore, there is less disturbance of the tobacco on the moving latter is fixed to the machinei It'is to be understood, however, that tobacco feeding apparatus constructed in accordance with thepresent in vention need not have the trough and moving surface combined in the tobacco". feeding apparatus since it is a simple matter'to arrange: the

means (e g., the plates or vanes) which are disposed above the moving'surface and in the path of the shower so that when the-apparatus is combined with a machine having a moving surface it functions in the manner above described.

Tobacco feeding apparatus of the kind above described may be fitted to a cigarette making machine in the usual manner, and the tobacco on the moving surface 3 may be passed through rod forming mechanism such as that described in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,787,551 to rod sealing mechanism of any suitable form, and the continuous cigarette rod so formed may be passed to rod severing apparatus, such for example, as that described in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,860,197,

which severs the rod into cigarette lengths.

Again, if desired, the tobacco feeding apparatus may be fitted in the usual manner to any suitable form of tobacco packaging machine.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of feeding tobacco to a cigarette making or tobacco packaging machine which comprises showering particles of tobacco towards an endless moving surface in a shower the width of which extends lengthwise of the moving surface, subdividing the shower along its width and giving to the falling tobacco of each subdivided portion a horizontal component of movement, and .also a lateral movement in a direction the projection of which on the plane of the moving surface is transverse to the direction of movement of the latter, the horizontal movement being imparted to the subdivided portions at a sufficient height above the moving surface to ensure that the tobacco in each subdivided portion is spread to a greater width than the original width of said portion at a point of subdivision of the shower and whereby due to the lateral movement imparted to the tobacco the heavier particles of tobacco contained in a subdivided portion are together with the lighter particles of an adjacent subdivided portion delivered onto the moving surface adjacent to each other in a transverse direction.

2. In an arrangement for spreading tobacco showered to a moving tobacco receiving surface on a cigarette making machine or a tobacco packaging machine, the combination with means for showering the tobacco toward the said surface, of a device for subdividing the shower into widths extending lengthwise of said moving surface and imparting to the tobacco in each subdivision a horizontal component of movement and also a lateral movement in a direction the projection of which on the plane of the moving surface is transverse to the direction of movement of the latter, said device being so constructed that theposition at which the said horizontal movement is imparted to the tobacco is at a sufficient height above the said moving surface to spread the tobacco of each subdivision lengthwise of said surface to a greater width than the original width of the subdivision, whereby the said lateral movement causes light and heavy particles from adjacent subdivisions to be delivered to laterally disposed areas of the moving surface.

3. In apparatus for use in a cigarette making machine, the combination with means for supporting a traveling web for movement in a predetermined path, of meansfor discharging loose tobacco upon said web in a direction having a component in the direction of movement of the web, said last named means including a plurality of stationary elements spaced. longitudinally of the web, said elements being interposed in the path of the discharged tobacco and' inclined downwardly and forwardly in the direction of movement of the web, said elements being so formed adjacent the lower ends thereof as to impart to the discharged tobacco a component of movement transverse to the direction of movement of the web.

4. In apparatus for use in a cigarette making machine, in combination with means for supporting a traveling web for movement in a predetermined path, of means for'discharging loose tobacco upon said web in a direction having a component in the direction of movement of the Web, said last named means including a plurality of stationary elements. spaced longitudinally of the web, said elements being'interposed in the path of the discharged tobacco and inwardly toward an endless moving surface in a shower of which the width extends lengthwise of the moving surface, subdividing the shower along its width and imparting to the falling tobacco of each subdivided portion a movement having a component in the direction of movement of said surface and a lateral component in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of said surface, the said movement being imparted to the subdivided portions at a sufficient height above the moving surface to ensure that the tobacco in each subdivided portion is spread to a greater width than the original width of said portion at a point of subdivision of the shower,

whereby due to the lateral movement imparted to the tobacco the heavier particles of tobacco contained in a subdivided portion are together with the lighter particles of an adjacent subdivided portion delivered onto laterally adjacent areas of the moving surface.

6. In apparatus for use in a cigarette making machine, the combination with means supporting a travelling web for movement in a predetermined path, of means for discharging tobacco downwardly toward said web in a shower of which the width extends generally lengthwise of the moving surface, and means for subdividing the shower along its width into separate portions and. discharging each of such portions onto said web from a point disposed above the latter in a direction having a component in the direction of movement of the web and a component in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the web.

'7. In apparatus for use in a cigarette making machine, the combination with means supporting a travellingweb for movementin a predetermined path, of means for discharging tobacco downwardly toward said web in a shower of which plurality of stationary elements spaced longitudinally of the web and positioned to intercept said shower, each such element being so formed and directed at the lower end thereof as to impart to its portion of the shower the aforesaid direction of movement.

'WALTER EVERETT MOLINS.

JACK SHACKLETON. 

